Finally, he gave the summaries to his fine-tuned model, and he asked it to compose passages "in the style of Vauhini Vara." Going into all this, I was self-assured, even smug. I'd always felt that my style was original and, more important, that my books were totally distinct from one another. I figured that, even if the A.I. model could imitate my past books, it couldn't predict the style of the novel in progress. So, when Chakrabarty sent me the A.I.-generated imitations, I was genuinely confused.

SoftBank races to fulfill $22.5 billion funding pledge to OpenAI by year-end SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son attends an event to pitch AI for businesses in Tokyo in February. NEW YORK/TOKYO/SAN FRANCISCO - SoftBank Group is racing to close a $22.5 billion funding commitment to OpenAI by year-end through an array of cash-raising plans, including a sale of some investments, and could tap its undrawn margin loans borrowed against its valuable ownership in chip firm Arm Holdings, sources said. The all-in bet on OpenAI is among the biggest yet by SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, as the Japanese billionaire seeks to improve his firm's position in the race for artificial intelligence. To come up with the money, Son has already sold SoftBank's entire $5.8 billion stake in AI chip leader Nvidia, offloaded $4.8 billion of its T-Mobile U.S. stake and slashed staff. Son has slowed most other dealmaking at SoftBank's Vision Fund to a crawl, and any deal above $50 million now requires his explicit approval, two of the sources said.

LG TVs add'delete' option for Copilot Claude's Chrome plugin is now available to all paid users The plugin lets the AI model navigate and take actions in websites on your behalf. Anthropic is finally letting more people use Claude in Google Chrome . The company's AI browser plugin is expanding beyond $200-per-month Max subscribers and is now available to anyone who pays for a Claude subscription. The Claude Chrome plugin allows for easy access to Anthropic's AI regardless of where you are on the web, but its real draw is how it lets Claude navigate and use websites on your behalf. Anthropic says that Claude can fill out forms, manage your calendar and email and complete multi-step workflows based on a prompt.

Welcome back to In the Loop, new twice-weekly newsletter about AI. If you're reading this in your browser, why not subscribe to have the next one delivered straight to your inbox? Last month, I interviewed Trump's Energy Secretary Chris Wright for TIME's Person of the Year feature: The Architects of AI . Wright, who came from the private sector, has now staked much of his legacy on AI acceleration. In our interview, he highlighted AI's role in advancing crucial scientific research and downplayed climate risks.

PCWorld reports that OpenAI has launched an app store for ChatGPT, allowing developers to submit applications that integrate directly with the AI chatbot platform. Users can access apps through the sidebar's'Apps' button and interact with them by typing '@appname' during conversations, with categories including Featured, Lifestyle, and Productivity. This expansion transforms ChatGPT into a more comprehensive platform where developers can even link apps to external sites for purchasing physical goods. OpenAI just announced in a blog post that you can now connect ChatGPT with even more apps. In fact, OpenAI has also opened things up for developers to submit their own apps for review, which can then be published in ChatGPT's app library. You'll be able to access the ChatGPT app store via the Apps button in the sidebar of ChatGPT. The apps in the store are divided into Featured, Lifestyle, and Productivity categories. Once you've linked an app to the chatbot, you'll be able to use it by typing in your ChatGPT conversations, and the app in question will then be able to help you with things like booking reservations and ordering food.

PCWorld reports that Mozilla's new CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo plans to integrate AI features into Firefox while maintaining user choice to disable them. This strategic shift addresses Firefox's stagnant market share and aims to compete with AI-centric browsers without compromising privacy principles. The optional AI implementation reflects Mozilla's commitment to transparency and user control in an increasingly competitive browser landscape. Mozilla recently confirmed that it's shifting gears and bringing AI features to its Firefox browser. However, according to the newly appointed CEO Anthony Enzor-DeMeo, the AI features will always be optional and possible to switch off completely.

Could the AI industry be on the verge of its first major layoffs? Will China spread propaganda to slow the US data-center building boom? Where are AI agents headed? AI-powered robots are just one of the topics likely to grab headlines in 2026. When OpenAI declared a "code red" this month to refocus its teams on competing with Google, I couldn't help but think back to December three years ago when the companies' roles were reversed.

Google launched Gemini 3 Flash as its new default AI model, offering up to three times faster performance than Gemini 2.5 Flash while being more cost-effective. PCWorld reports the model excels in multimodal tasks, scoring 81.2% in MMMU-Pro benchmarks and performing comparably to Gemini 3 Pro and OpenAI's GPT-5.2. This upgrade enhances Google's AI products with improved visual understanding, making advanced AI capabilities more accessible for everyday workflows and data analysis. Google has now launched Gemini 3 Flash, a faster and more cost-effective AI model based on Gemini 3. According to Google, Gemini 3 Flash is up to three times faster than Gemini 2.5 Flash, and it outperforms previous Flash models in all internal tests. In several benchmark tests, Gemini 3 Flash performed on par with both Gemini 3 Pro and OpenAI's GPT-5.2. In the multimodal test MMMU-Pro, it even topped the list with a result of 81.2 percent. The Flash model is supposed to be adapted for fast and repetitive workflows.

The Download: China's dying EV batteries, and why AI doomers are doubling down China figured out how to sell EVs. Now it has to bury their batteries. In the past decade, China has seen an EV boom, thanks in part to government support. Buying an electric car has gone from a novel decision to a routine one; by late 2025, nearly 60% of new cars sold were electric or plug-in hybrids. But as the batteries in China's first wave of EVs reach the end of their useful life, early owners are starting to retire their cars, and the country is now under pressure to figure out what to do with those aging components. The issue is putting strain on China's still-developing battery recycling industry and has given rise to a gray market that often cuts corners on safety and environmental standards.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Did Microsoft do anything right in 2025? From AI overload to price hikes, little Microsoft did during 2025 was worth applauding. Can you name one single, solitary, success Microsoft had in 2025? In the years that PCWorld has catalogued Microsoft's wins, failures, and head-scratching "WTF" moments, there's always been a mix of high points and lows.